The New Verse News presents politically progressive poetry on current events and topical issues.

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Tuesday, September 30, 2008

He has spent fifteen years on death row, fucked over by lawyer after lawyer – the one who fell asleep during the trial, the ones who didn’t file his appeals. The crime: stabbing a woman during a break-in. Did he do it? We don’t ask -- death row etiquette. You don’t talk about the crime unless the prisoner brings it up. Obliquely he says he didn’t.

Fifteen years on death row in a four-by-ten cell. Locked down from 1:30 PM to 7:30 AM every day.

He was an accidental child and never knew his father. Beaten by his mother and stepfather, and tormented by his half-brothers and -sister. They were New Mexican Spanish, and they called him “the Mexican.” An outsider. He thought his mother loved him, he says -- even when she hit him and told him she didn’t want to keep him -- because she always put dinner on the table. Once when he was about 10, his parents left the kids for six months while they went away to work. It was OK, he says, because there were lots of aunts an uncles in the neighborhood.

Fifteen years on death row, five thousand days of the same-old same-old.

He has taught himself to read and write since he’s been inside. Now he’s passionate about books and loves to tell us the plots of the novels he’s reading. Out on the yard, the prisoners who have read the same books sit and discuss them while others jog or play basketball.

Fifteen years on death row, waking up each morning, going to sleep each night, knowing the state has big plans for him.

Now he has lawyers who are working hard for him. Up to date on all his appeals. They’ve said it may be ten years before the court responds.

Fifteen years on death row. Ten executions. Many more dying of suicide and natural causes.

He has a great sense of humor, a sweet spirit. Even so, how does he keep his soul from curling up and dying? Exercise every day. Out to the yard for fresh air and sunshine. Card games, shared meals. Pen pals from all over. Visitors from outside. His brother used to come, but stopped. Now it’s just us and the lawyers. He always shaves before a visit. And presses his denims. They don’t give out steam irons on death row. How does he do it? Puts a couple of towels down on the floor next to his bed. Folds the jeans with the inseams lined up and lays them down on top of the towels, the way you’d place a pair of trousers lengthwise on an ironing board. Smooths out all the wrinkles. Sprinkles water along the folds, and puts another towel on top. Then walks back and forth on the stack for a half-hour or so, and pulls out a wrinkle-free nicely creased pair of pants that he puts on with a clean chambray shirt and a pair of spit-shined shoes to welcome his guests.

Fifteen years on death row. And counting.

Buff Whitman-Bradley is a peace and social justice activist in Northern California. In addition to writing, he produces documentary videos and audios. With his wife Cynthia, he is co-producer/director of the award winning video Outside In, about people who visit prisoners on San Quentin's death row.__________________________________________________

Monday, September 29, 2008

We shall squeeze you empty and thenwe shall fill you with ourselves.--George Orwell, 1984

formerly a radical pursuit: the point where spirit met nerve spineefficiency eclipses old-time siloed serialitynow cybernetic robot teams dispatcheddriven by tokens narrow bandwidth lines of cloaklike a door beyond which lies a spectrumtiny sets of cues more powerful than a size Dor a hard dick noir anti-metaphysical gumshoechasing clues undercoverdifference no deeper than the Dewey decimaltracking the tiny donor in the painting digital signingwhipped up to a theatrical frenzy our artists of the real economistsremake the world (tacitly) celebrating the clean canvasgreat floods and fires new tyrannies like absolutionsbut the only fetters falling away over fifty yearsare restraints on the market caps on corporate license loosenedSukarno copper nickel rubber oil military coupsSantiago saw slogans painted on its walls in red:Jakarta is comingWashington Wall Streetshoveling shared wealth back into private handsadvancing on the crest of disastersIt’s never been a better time to be a robot a repo manor a corporationdevolved to free market eradicating oppositionbefore it gets off the groundimagining resistance still a source of the possibleembedded macros idealizing informationno wonder the attraction of virtual systemsnothing on TV but blowhards and pundits gutless demagoguespledging sotto voce crying crocodile tearswhile I’m logging on for something skeletalto the right of jihadthat names the closed loop opposes the corporatist modelthe poor disposable the rich freeto amass endless wealth the bottom lineincreasing the revenue streamten times nothing makes ten

Dion Farquhar was born in 1947 and lives in Santa Cruz with the love of her life and their two teenage sons. Formed by the Sixties and repudiating nothing, she still misses New York, her old friends, and off-off Broadway theatre. Her poetry has recently appeared in City Works, Ikon, Fifteen Project, Second Hy(na)ku Anthology, Rogue Scholars, SLAB, Ep;phany, Otoliths, LanguageandCulture.net, AUGHT, Poems Niederngasse, and XCP: Street Notes. Her chapbook Cleaving won first prize at Poets Corner Press in 2007.__________________________________________________

On a brightly sunny Norcal morning,as we both limp thru an upscale mall,Ivo says he tells his wealthy friends“Don’t think about making money,just think about…staying alive.” He’sdead-serious, financial times are dire,nobody knows if/when they will fail,how far they’ll fall before hittingbottom & where the bottom lies.We 2 limp thru that mall each a.m.,past Salvatore Ferragamo shoes; Ivogot a pair for $20 at a thrift-store;tho a bit tight, they’re dead cheap& will last him the rest of his life,& beyond, returned to a thrift-store.

Bill Costley serves on the Steering Committee of the San Francisco Bay area chapter of the National Writers' Union._______________________________

socializing lossestoxic corporate debtsfor Main Street–saved by the Stateowned by the few

Barbara A. Taylor's haiku, tanka and short form poems have appeared on Sketchbook, Shamrock, Stylus, Lynx, New Verse News, Simply Haiku, Three Lights Gallery, Tiny Words, Kokako, Eucalypt, Moonset, Contemporary Haibun, Modern English Tanka, and others including recent anthologies, Landfall and Atlas Poetica. Her diverse poems with audio are available online.__________________________________________________

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Even the pottedplants are in shock, either deadfrom water-loggingor spindly and anxious as a teenagertrying to understandsuch sudden growth. The river’ssettled back,its brown signaturelayered over parking lots, flood’s farewell.

July fourth arrives but it’s more like Spring,cool days, blanketed nights,and a slow rebirth of sorts: debris removedfrom curbs, always the rolled-up carpetand lingering brown lawn spots(marking victims like a cross on the door,)where faint green can be seengrass faithful to itself,while nettles and buckthorn grow wild.

Business is good,for once, for lawn repairs and fix-it men;more than they can handle;not a mason to be had. And hope?Plenty of that: hopethe basement holds, does not implodeon any rainy day, hopeits loosened cinder blocks stay puttill fall. Hope the banker calls,approves a loan, or FEMAcomes through ‘cause we’re not black,just blue collar, hope the best manwins in November.

Some sodden flags will hangfrom door ways, some veterans will walkdown Main Street behindsome farmers on their tractors,since the crops are dwarfed or gone,pants low and showingmore than we want to see.

It’s a holiday, but the city feels abandonedyet neighbor kids insiston lighting cherry bombs which resonateless like celebration than combat.more water than we’d ever want,even the Fox River toxic.

A holiday, all day to drinkMore beer than we need,to delay or suspend what must be faced.Some fireworks will flash, savedfrom city hall whiledocuments floated, and notices went downwith the post office,some wanted men gone free.

Paula Sergi is the author of Family Business, a chapbook from Finishing Line Press, and co-editor of Boomer Girls: Poems by Women from the Baby Boom Generation, University of Iowa Press. Forthcoming from Kaplan Publishing are two anthologies she co-edited, Meditations on Hope and A Call to Nursing. She holds a BSN from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and an MFA in creative writing from Vermont College. _______________________________

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Jeremiah wore a wooden yokearound his neck, made of the stoutest oak."Babylon will hold in thrall our folk for years to come."

Hananiah said to him, "Our menwill be in Babylon and out again,victorious, before you count to ten. It'll be a romp."

Said Jeremiah, "When we no longer pourmen and money into this foreign war,when we depend on our own might no more, I'll know you're right."

Then stepped Hananiah up and brokefrom Jeremiah's neck the wooden yoke,and cock-a-hoop these gloating words he spoke: "Mission accomplished!"

Jeremiah held himself in checkand went away awhile. When he came backhe had an iron yoke around his neck. Told Hananiah:

"You have broken off the yoke of wood,but now we'll wear a yoke of iron for good,sending our riches and our livelihood to Babylon.

"You have condemned this nation by your lieto endless servitude. I prophesythat before the year is out you'll die, your name accursed."

And sure enough, as Jeremiah swore,Hananiah died and was no more,He left behind a greedy, pointless war— his country ruined.

And did the people mend their wanton waysAnd listen to Jeremiah all their days?What happened next? Well, that's another phase, another story.

Esther Greenleaf Murer lives in Philadelphia. In addition to New Verse News, her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in The Externalist, The Ghazal Page, Mimesis, Light Quarterly, and Town Creek Poetry.__________________________________________________

Poker champs cradle chins, rub meaningfrom faces, while two channels overpolitical luminaries fake transparencyon the issues, their true faces obscured,made-up for the cameras. We the viewersscrutinize each nuance, bluff or gesturebroadcast into bars and beauty parlors.Bartenders switch between the channelsof truth and lies—everything entertains.

His face washed of meaning and bias, the contendercampaigns for survival, trusts his gut that folksdislike intellect, denies allegations he was evera PhD candidate, slams back a shot of Jack Daniels,slaps a mechanic’s back. Election Tuesday we havea date with democracy, voting machine, oxymoron.No bright line between truth and lies, the electwill oversee the production, fiction of our lives.

Dave Seter was born in Chicago. A registered civil engineer, he now lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area. His poems have appeared in various publications including Karamu, Blue Collar Review, Bear River Review, and Switched-on Gutenberg.________________________________________

Friday, September 26, 2008

"After decades of investigation, scientists are still unable to explain why no part of the brain seems responsible for storing memories."

-- The Epoch Times 8/28/08

Before decades of memorythe brain was responsiblefor investigating scientistswho, until recently, storedmore than a weak curiosityhampered by a right-wingban on stem-cell research...

After centuries of waiting,the best minds have atrophied;malnourished, they've clammed-up --Meanwhile, intelligent life orbitsWashington, as we watch in a stuporAnd the human race plods on...

Scot Siegel is an urban planner and poet from Lake Oswego, Oregon, where he serves on the Lake Oswego City Planning Commission and the Board of Trustees for the Friends of William Stafford. His first full-length poetry collection Some Weather is forthcoming from Plain View Press in 2009.________________________________________

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Palinia, his running-mate:Because that now it lies on you to speakTo th' people; not by your own instruction,Nor by the matter which your heart prompts,,But with such words that are but roted (sic) inYour tongue, though but bastards & syllablesof no allowance to your campaign's untruths.Now, this no more disses/honours you at allThan to take in the media with gentle words,Which else would put you to your fortune &The hazard of needed bundled contributions.I would dissemble with my nature, whenceMy fortunes & my friends' at stake requir'd &I should do so in full honour. I am in this likeyour wife, your son, these senators, the nobles;& you will better show mainstream-media loutsHow you can frown & spend a fawn upon'emFor the inheritance of their loves to safeguardWhat they will surely run at 8&10pm tonite.'

Media-Men: Noble lady! Come with us, speak fair.You may salve so, not what is dangerous at present,but bemoans the loss of what was best in TV-past.

Bill Costley serves on the Steering Committee of the San Francisco Bay area chapter of the National Writers' Union._______________________________

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Two partyholds, both alike in stubbornness,On fair Potomac, where we lay our scene,From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,Where "civil" folks are still all much too mean.From forth the fatal loins of these two foes -A pair of criss-cross running mates jump the stage;Whose misadventured piteous overthrowsWill not, even in victory, make country sage.The fearful passage of their death-mark'd ads,And the continuance of their parties' rage,Which, nominee's end, nought could remove,May not, even despite the hoopla, turn the page.But you - if you with patient ears attend,What here shall miss, your blood and sweat shall mend.

Olga Wayne is an attorney by day and a bard by night. She is a graduate of Harvard College and Temple Law School. _______________________________

Obameo, Obameo, wherefore art though Obameo,Deny thy Muslimhood and refute those charges,Or, if thou wilt not, I will be sworn in as president,And I'll no longer be a Senator.'Tis but thy party affiliation that you're my enemy.Thou art thyself, though not a Maverick.What's Maverick? It is nor Post, nor Fox,Nor Wall Street Journal, nor any other paperBelonging to Rupert Murdoch. O, be some other network.What's in the news? That which we call a pigIs still a pig even with some lipstick on,So Obameo was quoted, though that's not what he meant,Referring to that dear Palin, who talks of oil,Without any real experience. Obameo, doff thy party,And for that Hillary, who wants no part of thee,Her votes I'll take all myself.

Aaron Gillego resides in Miami, FL, where he teaches high school English. He pursued his MFA in Poetry at the University of Miami. He has been published by The Advocate and has contributed two poems previously to The New Verse News. _______________________________

We want one more line, Yogi.We promise not to manglethis one,as we have doneover the years.

Your coy smile beguiles,holds us fast. Laureateto the end, speakingon the occasion, echoingyourself, I’m Sorry to See it Over.

Earl J. Wilcox writes about aging, baseball, literary icons, politics, and southern culture. His work appears in more than two dozen journals; he has contributed 40 poems to the New Verse News.________________________________________

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy — they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made."_________________________________________________

Our preliminary diagnosis revealed no apparent abnormalitiesNo early symptoms of the disease were visibleTrue he spent hours at the zooObserving the cheetah measure her territoryWith tethered but predictable speedWatching the polar bearPace from one smoothly hewn stone to the nextWith deceptive affability

His favorite pet was his Doberman whom he found user friendlyHe remembered to file the incisorsTill they were indistinguishable from the ivory tipsOf the poniard set in the parlorHe neglected to clip the nailsThat had carved a hole the sizeOf several finely crafted grenadesIn the surface of the bedroom floor

At day care he demonstrated an unfaltering senseOf expertise in the area of property rightsOn the beach he staked out the lot for his sandcastleWith a steel tape and a marble eyeHe achieved coitus with a treatiseExperienced orgasm with a sloganHuman secretions of any sort disturbed himSweat, semen, a tear.

Suzanne Richardson Harvey is a member of the Academy of American Poets. For almost two decades she lectured in the English Department at Stanford University. She is now retired. Her poetry has appeared in The Christian Science Monitor, Concho River Review, Mannequin Envy, Convergence Journal, Poetalk, Poetry Salzburg Review (Austria), SpeedPoets (Australia), Ascent Aspirations Magazine (Canada), nthposition (UK), Current Accounts (UK), Poetic Hours (UK), and Splizz (Wales), among other venues._________________________________________________

Sunday, September 21, 2008

"One of Spain's most enduring literary mysteries could soon be solved after the descendants of Federico García Lorca dropped their longstanding objections to unearthing the mass grave where the poet's remains are believed to lie. 'We will not oppose it,' said Laura García Lorca, the poet's niece. 'Although we would prefer it weren't done, we respect the wishes of the other parties involved.'”

Do these soggy bones mattermore than Bernarda’s brokencane or New Yorktenements or a perfect pair of olivesin hand? For if we hold, Federico,your delicate fingers, trace the linesof your lips with our fingers,and hear your inspirationeven now, we have no needfor the palpableto imagine you.

Friday, September 19, 2008

Hungry, I can’t decide what’s the itch.I scratch the fridge,find old democratic green veggies,and decide, “No.”Then I vote at the cupboard and notice a candidate: corn oil.--And I know what I need,deep fat fried republicans.Lightly salted, so as not raise my blood pressure.

Berkeley resident Stan Pisle's poems have appeared in Our Magazine of Cleveland, Ohio. He's a supporter of California State University East Bay's writing program, and an advisory board member of CSUEB's literary magazine Arroyo.__________________________________________________

Thursday, September 18, 2008

The man at the ticket window asksfor some identification.My dark laughter?The socket of my missing tooth?

I pass through the ancient turnstile.The war is here and it’s not,like a book on the nightstandthat you’ll never open.

I’m inconspicuous at the ballparkin my threadbare mourning clothes.The crowd is huge but sullen,as if they know something

the players down on the field don’t –that the starting pitcher will be betrayedin the late innings by the bullpen,that grass crumbles, that everything

that isn’t dying is already dead.

Howie Good, a journalism professor at the State University of New York at New Paltz, is the author of six poetry chapbooks, including the free e-book, Police and Questions (Right Hand Pointing, 2008).__________________________________________________

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

I worry less about the grown manwho stumbled into the emergency roomcomplaining of chest and abdominal painafter consuming an aphrodisiac madefrom toad venom, than I doabout the woman pacingher apartment floors waiting for him:

stopping to gaze at her reflectionin the mirror then the window thenthe mirror then back again, tiltingher head here, parting her lips there,smiling, nodding, her occasional laughtersputtering like flame on a wet wick.

With dusk’s fire light gone, the silk teddylooks too tight under her arms,where the flesh makes two folds,one for each child,first a boy then a girl,away for the weekend.

She takes a breath, unzips the side,shuts the curtains, smears the mirrorwith No. 217 Lips by Lippy tangerine lipstick,peels the silk away from her body likegauze from a binding or a burnthat only the risk of exposurecould possibly cure.

Darlene Pagán’s poetry is forthcoming in Willow Springs and her poems and nonfiction have most recently appeared in Literal Latte, The Nebraska Review, and The MacGuffin. She teaches writing and literature at Pacific University in Forest Grove, OR.__________________________________________________

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Samirah widens the holes in her rags.These shirt . . . these pants? I never wear them again.Yes, my name is Samirah; I wanderinto doughnut shopso hungry, I taste the smells.They force me eat my own vomitwhen I can’t keep chili peppers downwhere they force in mouth. Yes, I stealfood from garbage. Yes, I do not want say their name;please let me point them . . . they cut my earsand do you have tissue I can wipethis stuff that comes from them likebad water? Yes, what you touch hurts,you call them scars?Yes, I come from Indonesiato be maid, to live in picture of house they send and for money I send Bunda my mother . . . she . . .yes, I go home, no holes in food, holes in me.

A workshop Leader for The Florida Center for the Book, the first affiliate of the Library of Congress, Lucille Gang Shulklapper writes fiction and poetry. Her work has been anthologized and appears in many publications, as well as in four poetry chapbooks, What You Cannot Have; The Substance of Sunlight; Godd, It’s Not Hollywood; and In The Tunnel. Living up to traditional expectations led to work as a salesperson, model, realtor, teacher, and curriculum coordinator throughout schooling, marriage, children, and grandchildren.__________________________________________________

Monday, September 15, 2008

And how many single-parent childrenare lied to, told to call Mommy and Daddythose who are secretly not

or told dramas of Daddy's deathat war or by other sacrificeto hide imprisonment, abandonment?

When McCain sideways smilesas an adoptive parent doeswhen he is proud of himself,

and says two men could neveradopt a child together, clearlychildren need both parents

(by which he must mean bothgenders), I wonder about orphansand the many children lied to

and whether two fathersor two mothers or even threewould be worse than a man

like Mr. McCain who cannotunderstand any one plus oneis always more love than none.

Darla Himeles currently lives in Bryn Mawr, PA, and works as the Coordinator of Staff Education at nearby Bryn Mawr College. This winter she will begin pursuing her MFA in poetry at Drew University's low-residency program. Her poems have recently appeared or are forthcoming in Mad Poets Review, Getting Read, and Poetica Magazine.__________________________________________________

Sunday, September 14, 2008

This is the hour before the wind,before watering, winning, oilcans, gas cans, core issues, clankingcacophony. Before the wordcountry. This is the hour whenthe mallards stir, clear throats, cluck, shake,eye thistle and corn at the feeders,eye tadpoles, float, feed, paddle, pluck.This is the hour before the sunhas risen over the edge ofarborvitae and spruce, beforedaylilies open in its heat,before another desperate blastfrom the hill, noise drummed outbecause we can’t stand to hearthe hum of vehemence, anotherframe, a roving band of framers,forging, marching, for the sakeof what? for what? for what? This isthe hour before foreign and freedom,before dressing, pressing cults and sects,before suicide, walls, mortar, motors,employ, deploy. This is the hour beforethirst, before belts and vests, before prayerand martyrdom. Before breakfast, buses,bones, backpacks, brigadiers, before nailsand bits of metal, before redeployingcell phones, web sites, framers. Thisis the hour before refilling the feeders.

Joy Gaines-Friedler's poems have been featured in many literary magazines including, The Litchfield Review, RATTLE, Margie and The Pebble Lake Review. Her first book of poems - Like Vapor - was published by Mayapple Press in 2008. Joy lives in Farmington Hills, Michigan, with her husband, three cats, and lots of wild life she tries to protect, including a neighborhood coyote. She teaches creative writing workshops to young adults considered "at risk" through Common Ground, a mental health core provider. She also tutors Political Science and English courses at Oakland Community College.__________________________________________________

Saturday, September 13, 2008

What don’t you like about low taxes?Our neighbour isn’t watchingthe Republican convention. Sayshe doesn’t need to. Always votesstraight ticket, checking off the boxesarranged on his ballot as neatlyas the discount coupons stacked on his porchwhere he invites us to share a glass of the winehe can’t tell from the expensive brands.Why pay more? Never misses a deal.Gets his shoes from a company that sends themto him in return for a reporton how they fit. He likes to sit and talk.Another glass? He likes to tell uswhat’s free and where to get it.Then turns the conversation to the waytaxes only benefit thosewho want something for nothing.Like the socialists in Europe. He never had childrento send to college. He’s affable. Just enjoysan argument. Teases us about our views.Disparity between rich and poordoesn’t bother him. They must have worked for it.And he doesn’t care that the Republicans he votes forare always talking about a godhe doesn’t believe in. Shrugs his shoulders.And he doesn’t agree with the war anymore.Shrugs his shoulders. He’s got a firewallaround him that keeps information away.He’s not comparing candidates. Blamesthe Democrats for every cent he payseven when they’re not in the majority.Tell him the state’s run by Republicansand he shrugs his shoulders. He doesn’t wantto ban abortion, occupy Iraq, or promotefamily values; he wants a discount on democracy.Wants it simple.Wants to drink it from a box.Can’t tell snake oil from a good Chardonnay.

David Chorlton has lived in Phoenix for 30 years and come to love the desert around it. He recently won the Ronald Wardall Award from Rain Mountain Press for The Lost River, a chapbook whose contents reflect his unease with what is happening to our planet. More of his work, including paintings, is at his Web site.__________________________________________________

Friday, September 12, 2008

Sure, I once put lipstick on a pig.“It’s not my shade!” the porker squealedIn anger; and danced a frightening jig.Sure, I once put lipstick on a pig,But lost my nerve about the red fright wig—It would have meant somebody’s doom was sealed …Sure, I once put lipstick on a pig.“It’s not my shade!” the porker squealed.

R. S. Dunn is the editor of the journal, Asbestos; former Editor of Medicinal Purposes Literary Review, the erstwhile host of the Poet to Poet cable television show, and has appeared in such publications as Krax, Imago, Mobius, Art Times, Rattapallax, Nomad’s Choir, Critical Perspectives in Accounting, and Pegasus. His full-length collections of poetry include Zen Yentas in Bondage, Guilty as Charged, Cannon Fodder (Cross-Cultural Literary Editions), Playing in Traffic (Founders Hill Press), Sunspot Boulevard (Xlibris), and Horse Latitudes (iUniverse.com)._______________________________

Thursday, September 11, 2008

"The tallest buildings ever," my father's voice rising higherhis hands spinning the wheel of a Buick Skylark Sportwagonwhen a fill-up cleaned the windshield with a smile and a squeegee

We emptied our attentions into Manhattanthen filled them up again with twin tower visions across the horizonfrom Sunday to Sunday, along the turnpike, and over the Pulaski skywaywe drove rivets through girders to Grandmother's in Jersey City

Hardened structures of steel, and men of similar originwere swinging by nerves, hanging by the courage to forge Americainto the future, for my father, and his children's children

They filled our eyes again, with seething horrorwings and concrete crumbling with loved onesundone into dust, piled into rubblelost years aloft, dust doesn't settleAnd still, it's not easy to lift these eyes skywardto ferry them across the Henry Hudsonor drive them south on the Westside Highwaysearching east, through debris, and shattered memoriessending them far off to uncertain sandswhere men fall like bricksso the highest building evercan stand

Robert M. Dilley is a new, old writer. Writes about life experiences, his family, humor, politics.______________________________________________________

Soon to follow will be backyard rompsWithout ropes and rubber tire swings

Ice cream not hand-cranked,Kool-Aid pre-made in a kit,

Lemonade in a pillCanned laughter

Fake tears, fake turf to mow,Wind-up birds, rubber snakes.

On a ranch in Texas,Mechanical bulls.

Earl J. Wilcox writes about aging, baseball, literary icons, politics, and southern culture. His work appears in more than two dozen journals; he has contributed 39 poems to the New Verse News.________________________________________

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Little Fannie is crying.There are holes in her clothesand holes in her shoesand a skinny hungry lookon her tear-smudged face.Daddy’s mad at me, she sobsCause Freddie and me lost thepenny he gave us last week.Daddy Bush-War Buckssays we wasted it, wereirris-plausiblean stupid.Says we can’t play outside no more,can’t play at all till we learn how to work.“It’s all yore fault,” he said,“That Mama Gum-Mint an I are sufferin so much.All yore fault for squanderin the stuff we sogenerously give you.Money is serious bid-ness. Needs to be used on important things,”that’s what he said.Daddy’s not home right now. He’s gone out to play.Don’t know for how long. Doesn’t come home earlyusually.

Fannie and Freddie keep lookingfor the penny they lost, sweeping every corner of the housetill way past midnightWhile Daddy tipsies homedropping billions at every step,drunk on his way home to bedafter squanderingeverythingat the exotic new casino calledIraq .

Carmen Tafolla, a native of San Antonio, is the author of five books of poetry and numerous short stories, screenplays, children's works and essays. Winner of the 1999 Art of Peace Award, for work which contributes to peace, justice, and human understanding, Tafolla’s latest book (2008) is The Holy Tortilla and a Pot of Beans: A Feast of Short Fiction.__________________________________________________

Monday, September 08, 2008

In New York City there's a poor old woman in a wheel chair who, every midnight, and on 'til 3:00 or 4:00 AM, hangs out in the various schoolyards. She's old and disabled but educated, and she loves education. So she's just there, available, to teach anybody who happens to come along and want to be taught. All the teenagers and young men who would otherwise be out doing drugs or nothing go to her. Nobody kills her or mugs her, they love and respect her, little kids too, and parents of kids who don't want to go to school bring their kids to her night school. She does this every night, in as many schoolyards as she can get to.

Then, back home in Philly... well, you know how the buses run pretty late but not all night, so there's this young man who, after hours, climbs aboard one of the buses, Septa leaves the key for him, is happy he's doing this, he drives that bus around, for those who have to get to work at 4:00 AM or who just like riding the bus at 3:00 AM. And he's got a full bus. As he drives he talks, tells us about the New York City woman who runs the outdoor night school for those who don't like indoor day schools. She's a distant cousin of his, and there are other distant cousins. It's a chain they're running, a human chain.

Marion Deutsche Cohen's two latest books are Crossing the Equal Sign (Plain View Press, TX) about the experience of mathematics and Surviving the Alphabet (Huge Pathetic Force, PA), a poetry chapbook. Forthcoming is Chronic Progressive (Plain View Press, TX), a memoir in poetry of her well spouse caregiving years. Her books total 18. She teaches math at Arcadia University in Glenside, PA. Other interests include classical piano, singing, Scrabble, thrift-shopping, four grown children, and two grandchildren.__________________________________________________

Saturday, September 06, 2008

I think Palin pales in comparison to Bidenwho pales in comparison to Obamawho pales in comparison to Clintonwho pales in comparison to Kennedywho pales in comparison to Lincoln, a Republicanwho pales in comparison to thoseNative Americanswho pale in comparison to thosewho came before themacross the land bridgefrom Russiato AlaskaWhen neither existedand had no need for oilbut had whales and sealsand endless ice, and realnames, like: Aleut Koyukon Haida Gwich'in Tanana Ahtna Tlingit Yup'lk

Don't believe me? just ask the Inuit

Scot Siegel is an urban planner and poet from Lake Oswego, Oregon, where he serves on the Lake Oswego City Planning Commission and the Board of Trustees for the Friends of William Stafford. His first full-length poetry collection Some Weather is forthcoming from Plain View Press in 2009.________________________________________

US officials stressed US aid would not rebuildGeorgia's military which will be decided in Dec.when Georgian NATO membership is discussedat a NATO ministerial meeting. Russia insistedthis (draws) a red line in east-west relations; itsNATO rep. said Moscow would now halt co-operation with NATO over Afghanistan.

CHENEY visited Georgia as Ukraine's coalitioncollapsed over the Russian invasion of Georgia.

A federal judge on Sat. ordered Dick CHENEYto preserve a wide range of the records from his time as VP . . .

The decision by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotellyis a setback for the Bush administration in its effortto promote a narrow definition of materials that must besafeguarded under by the Presidential Records Act.

The Bush administration's legal position"heightens the court's concern" that some recordsmay not be preserved, said the judge.

The private CREW, Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Washington,is suing CHENEY & the Executive Office of the President in an effort 2ensurethat no presidential records are destroyed/handledin a way that makes them unavailable2 the public.

In a 22-page opinion, the judge revealed that in recent days,lawyers for the Bush administration balked at a proposed agreementbetween the 2 sides on how2proceed with the case.

CHENEY & the other defendants in the case "were only willing to agreeto a preservation order that tracked their narrowed interpretation"of the Presidential Records Act, wrote Judge Kollar-Kotelly.

The administration, said the judge, wanted any court order on what recordsare at issue in the suit 2cover only the office of the VP, not CHENEYor the other defendants in the lawsuit. The other defendants includethe National Archives & archivist of the USA.

In response to the ruling, CHENEY spokesman James R. Hennigansaid that "we will not have any comment on pending litigation."

The lawsuit stems from CHENEY's position that: hisoffice is not part of the executive branch of government.

This summer, CHENEY’s chief of staffDavid Addingtontold Congress the VP belongs 2neitherthe executive nor legislative branch of government,but rather is attached by the Constitution 2Congress.The VP presides over the Senate.

The lawsuit alleges that the Bush administration's actionsover the past 7 1/2 years raise questions whetherthe White House will turn over records createdby CHENEY & his staff 2the National Archives in Jan.

The Piscean Age gasps to a weepy ending.flooding the world w/frissons of fiscal fear.Knot-headed Sen. McCain = Cosmo Topper& nobody’s convinced but other old POWsraving that “socialism has come to America”from under their scrambled-egged USN caps.The Aquarian Age radiates its brightness ashatless & jacketless audiences listen to Sen.Obama smoothly make today’s only sense.But if neither of them can win in November,who the hell can? Ivo predicts they’ll eitherjoin to form a unity government, or we’ll geta 3rd Dubya term, engineered by CHENEY.

VP Dick CHENEY experienced an abnormal heartbeatWed. a.m. & upon the advice of WH doctors, went tothe hosp. for a proced. to "restore his normal rhythm."

For 67-yr-old CHENEY, who canceled a campaign eventhe was to attend later Wed. in IL, it will be the 2nd timein less than a yr that he will have the outpatient procedure[cardioversion] — which consists of an electric shock.

The VP's office said that after experiencing a problem,CHENEY saw the WH physician (where) it was discoveredthat he was experiencing a recurrence of atrial fibrillation (afib)an abnormal rhythm involving the upper chambers of the heart,said Megan Mitchell, a CHENEY spokeswoman.

As a result, CHENEY went to GWU Hospital in the afternoon,Mitchell said. CHENEY remained at the WH until time forthe proced. & participated in regular morning briefingsw/Pres. Bush, among other duties.

CHENEY told Bush of his cond. The Pres. responded"like he would with any friend," said spokesman Tony Fratto,by wishing the VP well & telling him to "go & make surethe doctors do what they need to do." Later, in Ada, MI,Bush told reporters that CHENEY is "going 2B fine.""He said he was confident, the doctors are confident,& therefore I'm confident," Bush said.

CHENEY also experienced afib in Nov. 2007,& doctors also administered cardioversion then in 2 1/2 hours.An irregular heartbeat was discovered while WH doctorswere treating the VP for a lingering cough from a cold.

Dr. Zayd Eldadah, director of cardiac arrhythmia researchat Wash. Hosp. Ctr in Wash. DC, said it's not unusualfor CHENEY to have another such episode. An est.2.8 million Americans have atrial fibrillation,the most common type of irregular heartbeat& one that is not life-threatening in itself.

"This kind of rhythm problem generally does keep coming back over time,"said Eldadah, not involved in CHENEY's care. "The natural historyof afib in people who have heart disease & are older is that it keepscoming back, & generally comes back more frequently."

The main risk from alfib is not that CHENEY will haveanother heart attack, but that he could eventuallyhave a stroke if the rhythm problem is not treated.

Book XC: CHENEY’s covered

Ivo worries about CHENEY’s needfor medical coverage post Nov. 4th.“Who will carry him after that? Willhe be covered until Jan 20th? Or theanniversary of his 1st-day of work?”Ivo’s more worried for CHENEY thanhe is for Ivo's having Parkinson’s disease.I don't even try to suggest that CHENEYcan COBRA coverage pre-covered byall of his pensions: Halliburton CEO;congressman, SECDEF, VP. Ivo asks:“Will he retire to Abu Dhabi where hemoved Halliburton's HQ?” "No way;back to WY (where he grew up.)"

WASHINGTON – VP-elect Joe Biden was all smiles Thurs.when he paid a courtesy call on the man he will succeed,VP Dick CHENEY. But he has insisted he wants to be nothing like him.Biden has called CHENEY "the most dangerous VPwe've had probably in American history" & saidhe couldn't name a single good thing CHENEY had done.

But even if he won't acknowledge any similarities,there's one way that Biden wants to be like CHENEY— a strong partner in governing the country.

Biden is proving to be a hands-on No. 2 to Pres-elect Barack Obama.He is carving out his own niche, specializing in foreign affairs,his area of expertise for decades in the Senate, & sticking close to Obama.

Past VPs have often been relegated to ceremonial roles,without major input on daily decisions. But the last 2 VPs,CHENEY & Al Gore, have been extraordinarily involved& insisted on private weekly lunches with their bosses.

Biden has said he told Obama, before accepting the running mate slot,he wouldn't want a peripheral assignment like reorganizing government,which Gore took on along (with other tasks) In a New Yorker interview last month,Biden said he told Obama: "I don't want to be a VP who is not part of the major decisions you make."

Biden will have an experienced aide who can help his voice be heard in the White House.He chose former Gore chief of staff Ron Klain to fill the same job for him.

Biden will certainly have a special interest in the Iraq war,with his son scheduled to deploy there this month.

So far, Biden has been working closely with Obama.He has been in almost all the pres.-elect's meetingsat his new government office space in Chicago& has been dispatched to make calls to several foreign leaders.

Biden was asked to smooth over a miscommunication followingObama's phone call with Polish President Lech Kaczynski last week.Who issued a statement saying Obama vowed to continue withPres. Bush's missile defense project. But Obama's advisers denied it;the Polish foreign minister later said it was a misinterpretation on their part.Biden called Kaczynski a couple of days later to explain that the Obamaadministration will assess the program before deciding whether to stick with it.

Biden has said he'd like to use his 36 years in the Senate,including leadership of the Judiciary & Foreign Relations committees,to help push Obama's agenda in Congress. It's longtime insider's experiencethat Obama lacks & a role that has not been CHENEY's focus.

CHENEY has been forceful in the White House,while venturing to Capitol Hill occasionallyto cast a tie-breaking vote or meet with GOP lawmakers.

On the campaign trail, Biden often lambasted CHENEYIn a debate with Republican rival Sara Palin, Bidenobjected to CHENEY's claim that the VP is part of thelegislative branch because of its largely ceremonial role as Senate president."The idea he's part of the legislative branch is a bizarre notioninvented by CHENEY to aggrandize the power of a unitary executive,& look where it has gotten us," Biden said. "It has been very dangerous."

When "CBS Evening News" anchor Katie Couricasked Biden to name the best & worst thing CHENEY has done as VP,he said he hasn't done much good, then offered admiration for his strength.

"But the thing I think he really, really has done:I think he's done more harm than any othersingle high elected official in memoryin terms of shredding the Constitution," Biden said."You know, condoning torture, pushing torture as a policy,this idea of a unitary executive, meaning the Congress& the people have no power in a time of war,& the president controls everything.I don't have any animus toward Dick CHENEY,but I really do think his attitude about the Constitution& the prosecution of this war has been absolutely wrong."

Despite the harsh words during the campaign,the CHENEYS invited Biden & his wife, Jill,to the Naval Observatory, the official VP residence,for an hourlong tour Thursday. Biden had beenin some of the first-floor rooms before. But it was his firstlook at much of the mansion that will be his 1st Washington residenceafter decades of commuting by train from Delaware.

Both couples were on their best behavior,at least during their greetings on the porch that reporters observed.

"Mr. VP, how are you doing," Biden said. CHENEY replied,"Joe, how are you?" & offered his congratulations.

Afterwards, as reporters left, a Secret Service agentcould be heard telling another agent standing guardfor the famously reclusive VP,"I haven't seen Press here since I've been here."

A statement from CHENEY’S office said the couple"enjoyed giving the Bidens a tour of the residence& wished them well as they make it their home in January."

"Have I changed?" CHENEY asked."Well, not in the sense thatI've gone through some fundamentalpsychological transition here,but I have been, since that day [9-11],focused very much on what we neededto do to defend the nation,& I think the policies we've recommended,the programs that we've undertaken,have been good programs.I think those have been sound decisions,& if that's what they mean bysaying I've changed,I'm guilty.

"I must say, I think[Obama has] a pretty good team,"CHENEY said. "I'm not close toBarack Obama, obviously,nor do I identify with him politically.He's a liberal. I'm a conservative.

"But I think the idea of keepingGates at Defense is excellent.I think Jim Jones will be very, veryeffective as the national security adviser.

"While I would not have hired Sen. Clinton,I think she's tough. She's smart,works very hard & may turn outto be just what Pres. Obama needs.

"How they deal with these issuesare going to be very important,because it's going to havea direct impact on whetheror not they retain the toolsthat have been so essentialin defending the nationfor the last 7½ years, orwhether they give them up.

“Obama's team needsto look at the specific threats,understand how the programswere put together,& how they operate.They shouldn't just fall backon campaign rhetoricto make these very fundamentaldecisions about the safety of the nation.

"I loved being VP &I loved my time in governmentbeing SECDEF or Ford's chief of staff.It's been 40 years since I cameto Washington to stay 12 months,& I think it's about timeI went & did something else."

Asked whether he authorized the waterboardingtactics against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed:"I was aware of the program,certainly, & involved inhelping get the process cleared,as the agency (in effect)came in & wanted to know whatthey could & couldn't do.They talked to me,as well as others,to explain whatthey wanted to do.I supported it.

"There was a period of time there,3 or 4 years ago, when about half ofeverything we knew about al Qaedacame from that one source. So, it'sbeen a remarkably successful effort.I think the results speak for themselves.

"If you're going to close Guantanamo,what are you going to do with those prisoners?One suggestion is, well,we bring them to the United States.Well, I don't know very many congressmen,for example, who are eager to have200 al Qaeda terrorists deposited in their district.

"I don't know any other nation in the worldthat would do what we've done . . .taking care of people who are avowed enemies,& many of whom still swear up & down thattheir only objective is to kill more Americans.

"As I look at the intelligencewith respect to Iraq,what they got wrongwas that there weren't any stockpiles.

"What they foundwas that Saddam Husseinstill had the capabilityto produce weaponsof mass destruction.He had the technology,he had the people,he had the basic feed stock.

"This was a bad actor,& the country's better off,the world's better offwith Saddam gone,& I think we made the right decision,in spite of the fact that the original NIEwas off in some of its major judgments."

WALLACE: Let's drill down into someof the specific measures that you pushed —first of all, the warrantless surveillanceon a massive scale, without tellingthe appropriate court, without seekinglegislation from Congress. Why not,in the aftermath of 9/11& the spirit of national unity,get approval, support, bring inother branches of government?

CHENEY: Well, let me tell you a storyabout the terror surveillance program.We did brief the Congress & we brought in…

WALLACE: Well, you briefed a few members.

CHENEY: We brought in the chairman& the ranking member, House & Senate,& briefed them a number of times up until —this was from late '01 up until '04 when there wasadditional controversy concerning the program.

At that point, we brought inwhat I describe as the big 9:not only the intel people,but also the speaker,the majority & minority leadersof the House & Senate,& brought them into the situation roomin the basement of the White House.

I presided over the meeting.We briefed them on the program,& what we'd achieved,& how it worked,& asked them,"Should we continue the program?"They were unanimous,Republican & Democrat alike.All agreed — absolutelyessential to continue the program.

I then said, "Do we need to come to the Congress& get additional legislative authorizationto continue what we're doing?" They said,"Absolutely not. Don't do it, because it will revealto the enemy how it is we're reading their mail."

That happened. We did consult.We did keep them involved.We ultimately ended up having to go to the Congressafter the NYT decided they were going to makethe judge to review all of —or make all of this available, obviously,when they reacted to a specific leak.

But it was a programthat we briefed on repeatedly.We did these briefings in my office.I presided over them.We went to the key peoplein the House & Senate intel committees& ultimately the entirely leadership& sought their advice & counsel,& they agreed we should notcome back to the Congress.

"I was clearly not happy that we, in effect,left Scooter sort of hanging in the wind,"CHENEY said in an interview onCNN's "State of the Union with John King."CHENEY acknowledged a"fundamental difference of opinion"with Bush on the matter.

CHENEY said Libby had been unjustly accused& deserved a pardon, but Bush disagreed.It was one of the few areas that CHENEYhas publicly said he disagreed with Bushon during their 8 years in the White House.

CHENEY continued his criticismof POTUS Barack Obama'snational security policies, saying they"raise the risk to the American people of another attack."

In one of his first acts after taking office,POTUS Obama vowed to closethe U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cubawithin a year. It now holds about 240 terrorism suspects.

He also ordered more humane treatmentfor terrorism suspects & an end to renditions,the practice of transporting foreign detaineesto other countries for interrogation.

On Friday, the Obama administrationsaid it would no longer use the Bush-era termof "enemy combatant" for the Guantanamo detainees& it rejected Bush's position that the POTUS alonecan order the suspectsbe held indefinitely without charge.

CHENEY defended the policiesadopted by the Bush administrationin the war on terrorismas being done legally& in accordance withU.S. "constitutional practices & principles."

"I think those programswere absolutely essentialto the success we enjoyed ofbeing able to collect the intelligencethat let us defeat all further attempts to launch attacksagainst the United States since 9/11," CHENEY said.

Thursday, September 04, 2008

They are vacuuming the sidewalkoutside the hotel next door.It’s the Republican National Convention andthe sidewalks must be clean, very clean.To be honest, it’s a rubber-backed rugthey’re vacuuming. Red of course, the red carpet metaphorin suburban vernacular, rolled outfor the Republicans. I can’t decide which is more absurd, the rug on top of the sidewalk, or the vacuuming.On either side, topiary elephants—adornedwith Christmas lights—look on, while the vacuum glidesaround their fake moss feet. They wonder what’s gone wronghere in America. They want to go back,not to their native Africa, since they are neitherreal nor African, but back to their pre-synthetic lives, the iron ore and petroleum and stuff in the ground.Before they were pointless, too.

Jan Pettit lives and writes and fumes in Minneapolis, MN. Her poetry has appeared in journals including Great River Review, South Dakota Review, Rosebud Magazine, Tusculum Reviewand in Nebraska Presence, an anthology of poets from Nebraska. _______________________________

She loves the unbornShe loves to killShe loves to fightShe loves being whiteAnd the long long summer days which up there pass for nightShe loves a bucket of bloodAnd long long draughts of water cold as iceShe loves AlaskaAnd would never ever goIf 18 million cracks in the floor she called homeHadn't flung her into waters she had never knownShe loves lifeSo much so that she swims for seven days and seven nightsUntil she can swim no moreUntil(as is reported by the people in copters above the warming waves who are tracking the death of polar bears)Until the very end of her lifeWhen she goes down and doesn't come back upAs long day becomes longer night

Steve Hellyard Swartz is a regular contributor to NewVerseNews, Best Poem, and Haggard and Halloo. His poetry has been published in switched-on guttenberg and The Kennesaw Review. In 2008, he won Honorable Mention in the Allen Ginsberg Poetry Awards, an honor he also received in 2007. He will soon be published in The Paterson Review and The Southern Indiana Review. In 1990, his film "Never Leave Nevada", opened in Dramatic Competition at the U.S. Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.__________________________________________________

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

When you enter a maquiladoraat Otay Mesa, the first thing you noticeis women, lots of them. Most of uscome from the south, where there are no jobs.There aren’t even men, except old ones!The others went north, looking for workand finding mostly grief and temptation.If ever I see my husband again,I will slap him, then kiss him.Then slap him again.We women were alone!We knew nothing about what awaited us!We brought nothing but children and naïve hopes!The lords of the maquiladoras welcomed us,we had small, agile hands, and would be cheap and docile.They even denied us bathroom breaks, we would suffer in silence.Or so they thought! But it wasn’t long before we women,young, uneducated, abandoned by everyone,began to speak up for our rights. We beganmaking a little trouble. Above all,we found we had each other – they couldn’t deny us that!But a factory woman’s life is a cheap thing in this world,just like the cell phones we assembled and the pantyhose we packaged,useful today, thrown away tomorrow.And this isn’t a David-and-Goliath story, like in church,or a Hollywood movie with a dream ending.There is no ending.The factories are moving to Indonesia,leaving big, brown stains on the countryside,and towns full of bitter women and wild teenagers.

Samples from Robert Anbian's new spoken word CD, I NOT I, can be heard on MySpace and is available from Edgetone Records as well as major download services. This is Anbian's fourth appearance on New Verse News.________________________________________

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Bush is the arrogant
white puppy in those
Advantage flea treatment
TV commercials.

He walks across a vacant
lot where an American
steel mill once stood,
smirks at some unemployed
factory dogs sitting
in a tavern scratching:

"Well there may be bugs
on some of you mugs,
but there ain't no
bugs on me," he announces brightly.

At summer camp, he leaps
from a sinking canoe
to the pier in the nick of time.

He slips in and out of Iraq.

He pees on the lawn
of the foreclosed house.

He sniffs the edge of
the VA hospital parking lot.

As the economy sinks and
all the other dogs
begin to scratch and scratch and scratch
he's an inspiration:

well-invested,
ranch paid up,
speaker fees looming

lifetime kennel club
membership.

He smirks into a mirror.

Michael Shorb's work reflects an abiding interest in myth, history, and the lyrical form, as well as a satirical focus on present day trends and events. His poems have appeared in over 100 magazines and anthologies, including The Nation, The Sun, Michigan Quarterly Review, Queen's Quarterly, Poetry Salzburg Review, Commonweal, Religious Humanism, Shoofly, Rattle, and European Judaism, as well as such anthologies as A Bell Ringing in an Empty Sky (Mho and Mho Works), To Be a Man (Tarcher Press) and Names in a Jar: 100 American Poets (Hood Press).__________________________________________________

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